We're going to take a break from our regular series in Luke, and we're going to do something that in my five years here I've never done before, which is to have an election day sermon. We have an election, a very important election, coming up in our nation on Tuesday, and we want to consider together the truth of God's word as it's written in Proverbs 14, in verse 34. So if you would turn with me in your Bible to Proverbs 14, And verse 34, I will give you a moment to find that passage so that we can give our attention and read it together. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. So far, the reading from God's Word. May He add His blessing to our hearts this morning. So, November the 8th. this coming Tuesday, a significant day for our nation as we go to the polls, we go to the voting stations and elect new leaders. As a congregation, we have spent some time praying about this day that is coming this Tuesday. We have prayed about the process. We have asked God to give us wisdom in casting our vote in such a way as honors Him. And so now I want to direct our attention to God's Word, considering together Proverbs 14, to direct us with a first ever Election Day sermon. Now, before I begin the sermon, I want to put your minds at ease. You may have noticed there are no stronger together posters, no posters that make America great again. Those are absent from here because this sermon is not about a specific candidate, which one to elect and which one not to elect. It's not a message that seeks to find the solution for our sin problem in the civil magistrate. The purpose of this sermon is to set before us God's order for his people in civil life. It is a sermon that seeks to set before us as God's people with clarity how the Christian functions in the civic realm, even as we, probably most of us, are citizens, but also for the magistrate. We seek to understand how we are to live according to God's Word as God's people. The reason we turn to God's Word for this, of course, is because the future of our nation is not really in the hands of elected officials, but it's in the hands of the Lord who is the King over all the earth. So therefore, whether you are a magistrate or whether you are a citizen, Our obligation always is before the Lord to apply ourselves to live righteously in His presence. So as we work our way through Proverbs 14, 34, I want to consider the truth of God's Word by looking first at God's Word to the nations. then the responsibility of the magistrate, and then the responsibility of the citizen. So we want to think about the future of our nation, and remember that it's not in the hands of elected officials, but that the Lord, who is King over all the earth, holds our nation in His hands. And therefore, whether we are a magistrate or a citizen, our obligation is to apply ourselves to live righteously. We're going to look at God's Word to the nations, the responsibility of the magistrate before the Lord, and the responsibility of the citizen before the Lord. So we want to consider first, from Proverbs 14, God's Word to the nations. I want to begin by reminding us that God's Word is both sufficient and authoritative to us. What I mean by that is that God's Word is authoritative in the sense that we trust this book, we follow this book, because it is the direction that God gives to His people. It's not Solomon who is the author of the book of Proverbs. Solomon is the writer of the book of Proverbs, but he is not the author. Genesis is written by Moses, it is authored by God. Paul's letters, written down by Paul, authored by God. This book has one author, and it is in its author that we find its authority. So when we're approaching life, we come recognizing that this book directs us because it is God's word breathed out for us that we should live according to it. God's Word is also sufficient. So, what does that mean? Well, it means that this book, by God's authority, sets before His people everything that we need for faith and practice. Everything that we need to believe about God is written in here. Everything that we work out in light of our belief in God also is written here. It's written either by an express command, thou shalt not, thou shalt, these commands that we see all throughout Scripture. It also comes to us through the reasonable application of sanctified wisdom, where we derive principles from God's Word. And so that's what we're doing here this morning. We're taking God's Word and its authoritative words and applying them into the area of the civic realm. The Bible, it's not just a book to guide us on Sunday, not just a book that we have to dust off when we're about to go to church. This is a book that guides us in our lives as citizens and in our daily lives perhaps as magistrates. as well. So, we come to this book. Its truth applies to our personal life, our church life, but also to our civic life. And this verse that we're considering this morning very specifically takes us and presses upon us our civic lives, our lives as citizens in our country. Now you see in this proverb, righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is the reproach to any people. It is tempting to think that when Solomon writes this, he's only writing it to the people of Israel. He was a king of the Davidic monarchy, and so he's writing this about the nation of Israel. It was a theocracy, nonetheless. And so, of course, he would be writing it of Israel, and that is true. He would be writing it of Israel. But that word, any people, or a nation, as it's recorded in this proverb, does broaden the scope of what we're discussing to any nation. In fact, the Hebrew word that's translated here as nation is really a word that would be used to describe the Gentile nations. Not the nation of Israel, but the Gentiles, the Goyim. That's the word that's used, and so here Solomon is making an observation in a generic sense of any nation. If Solomon only wanted to address Israel, he certainly could have done that by speaking of the sons of Jacob or speaking of Israel by name, but here he is using a word that is more broad, speaking of of all nations. And so here, Proverbs, as part of wisdom literature, is seeking to apply to all nations something of a truth. It is something of an application of the theology of the Bible specifically to people gathered under one civil magistrate, one government. It could be any country, Jewish or Gentile. And so what Solomon does here in this passage is he draws a contrast. You see the contrast which he does frequently in the book of Proverbs. Righteousness exalts a nation and the opposite is given also. Sin is a reproach to any people. What exalts a nation and what brings it reproach? He's dealing with opposites here. And that ought to be our question as we approach this passage as well, specific to our circumstance even. What would exalt the United States of America? What would bring it reproach? And so the first thing that we need to do as we seek to answer that question is to deal with definitions. It seems like maybe a basic thing to talk about, but I want to make sure that we understand what it means to exalt, and I want to make sure that we understand what it means to reproach. To exalt something, my dictionary told me, is to hold something in very high regard, to make it of noble character, or to look up to it. And then by contrast, the opposite of that is found in reproach, which is to express disapproval of something. And this proverb is saying to us that however closely your nation's laws resemble biblical righteousness, that is the extent to which God will exalt the nation. If your laws are righteous, God will exalt you. If your laws are sinful, God will bring you reproach. Now, the problem for our day and age, of course, is the inclusion of those words righteous and sinful. Because in our day and age, if you're to talk to the typical person walking on the street, if you're talking about righteousness and you're talking about sin, those words have become completely subjective to them. Whereas, in fact, in Scripture, these terms are objective. They have a specific box, and everything within that box is going to be righteousness, here, and then you have another box and everything within that box is going to be sin. And so we have another task of something that we need to clarify together. We need to understand the objective meaning of the words for righteousness and for sin. Now, before we do that, we have to recognize that in our day, people will say, well, they will say, you can't legislate morality. Have you heard people say that? Or they will say, you need to leave your religion outside of the civil realm. You need to leave it at the door, so to speak. That's the cry of our day. But what I want us to see is that as a nation you cannot make those statements. You cannot say morality cannot be legislated because what is any law? Any law is a statement by that civil magistrate of what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad, what is punishable and what should be encouraged. Why do we have criminal laws in our nation? Because we in our nation have determined that murder is not neutral. Murder is... And because murder is bad, we have a law that discourages it. Because we want to promote what is good, and we want to suppress what is bad. So, what does that mean? That means that whether or not a nation understands what God is asking of them, whether a nation understands that what they're doing with their laws is good or bad, whether they're being faithful in their laws, Every law by a nation legislates morality. Every law by necessity is a statement of what is good and what is bad. And so how should a nation then determine moral goodness? That's the question we need to have answered. We need to know whether or not we are in the right box, so to speak, objectively, because righteousness exalts a nation and sin is a reproach to any people. Is our nation operating in the box of righteousness when it comes to its laws, or is it operating in the box of sin? So let's try to understand what the Bible talks about when it comes to righteousness. To understand righteousness in God's word, I want us to consider the life of Abraham, because righteousness in scripture has two components to it, really. The first component you find in Abraham's life in Genesis chapter 15 and verse six. There, God has just given a promise, the second time God gives his promise to Abraham, and, well, he's still Abram at that time, and Abram believed the Lord, and it was counted to him as righteousness. There the Scriptures are describing righteousness as our standing in the presence of God. Abraham is counted as righteous. God views him as if he were righteous. So that's what righteousness is on the one hand. It's faith counted as righteousness. But then in Abraham's life, on the other hand, you also see righteousness as something that is described as right actions. You see that several chapters later in chapter 18 and verse 9. That can't be right. 19, it's important to put the one in there. In chapter 18 and verse 19, there God is speaking of Abraham and he says, What is righteousness there? Righteousness there is Abraham acting according to God's ways, doing righteousness. So Abraham is counted as righteous in his faith, but he is also righteous in his action. He does righteousness also. So when we come to Scripture, that's the definition that's being set before us. Deuteronomy chapter 6, And verse 24 and 25 show us very clearly that when we're dealing with the box of righteousness, we're dealing with a box that God has defined. Look at Deuteronomy 6, 24 and 25. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes. What's he talking about? He's talking about the law of God. Do all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good always that he might preserve us alive as we are to this day. And it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God as he commanded us. Solomon. He is a Hebrew Christian. He is part of the Hebrew Old Testament Church. When Solomon says righteousness, that's what he means. He means that box. A box limited by God's law and a box limited by a heart that is counted as righteous before God through faith. So by living according to God's law, that country is calling good what God calls good. And yet righteousness in the true biblical sense is the only sure foundation for exaltation. So in our land, if we were to imitate the Ten Commandments without a love for God at all, that would not be true righteousness. That would be external following. True righteousness is found in heart and action. So, righteousness in standing and behavior, that's a guarantee of exaltation and glory. We have to understand this. We have to understand that Solomon, as a Hebrew, would understand righteousness as defined in this way, not just some external following after the law of God. Then we also have to consider the opposite. So if righteousness is both our standing and our action in the presence of God, the opposite is sin. Sin is a reproach to any people. Our shorter catechism, number 14, Ask the question, what is sin? And children, do you know the answer to this? What is sin? Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. Again, sin, righteousness in relation to God's law. And sin is a transgression of it or a want of conformity, a failure to do the things that God asks of us and a doing of the things that God forbids. This is sin. And this is the very essence of the problem for the Canaanite nations that the Israelites had driven out. In Deuteronomy chapter 9, as Israel is about to enter into the Promised Land, when we were studying Joshua, we referred to this passage several times together. You remember what God said to the Israelites as they were about to enter into the Promised Land. He said, it's not because of your righteousness that you're going to be given the promised land, but it's because of the sin of the Canaanites. So Israel was not being led into the promised land because they were an exemplary people. They were being used by God for judgment for the sins of these nations. Not the sins of individuals, the sins of these nations. These nations were ruled by sin and God judged them for it. That's because God's law is for all nations. It's not just for Israel. It's for all nations. We will be judged by God in his presence, not because we're ignorant of his law. But because we know his law and we have broken it, we're going to be judged for our sin, not for our ignorance. And so that's the opposite. Righteousness exalts a nation. Sin, a neglect of God, is a reproach to any people. And so that's what Solomon has said before us. And so it's important to note, righteousness, sin, Who do they point us to? When we're dealing with these words of righteousness and sin, are we talking about something that man does for man? Or are we dealing with a group of people's relationship to God? We're dealing with God's law and our neglect or following of it. It is a verse that orients us to God. The verse is asking us. How does a nation relate to God? That's the relevant question that flows from this passage. And so, how does? How does our country relate to God? I think if we apply this proverb fairly, with an honest evaluation of our country, we must expect reproach. as a country. The discussions on the floors of our governing bodies rarely, if ever, address any statute, any governing ordinance from the position of whether or not it's righteous or sinful, whether or not it serves God or serves man. I think this absence of the Bible and the debates in our civil realm has grown by degree throughout the history of our country to the point where now it's practically unheard of. I had somebody forward an article to me, a brother in the congregation, forward an article to me, and we were both blown away. Why were we blown away? It's because this elected official from the floor of the House argued from Scripture against abortion. that blows us away now because we don't expect it. We are a nation that doesn't consider God in its laws at all anymore. Our laws permit sins that make heathen nations blush. It's true. American immorality is peddled all over the world. It's sold in every culture. We ought to be ashamed of it. The wealth that we have accumulated for ourselves is used to fund abortion around the world. And our laws say, that's okay. Our laws say, in essence, that is good. So the question that I want us to ask ourselves is what should we do now? How should we live now in this nation? So first I want us to consider the responsibility of the magistrate. When it comes to the nations, the response to this verse must be considered from the magistrate and the citizen's perspective. And so first we want to consider the magistrate. If we look at Romans chapter 13, We look in the first verse at the establishment of the magistrate by God. Who gives us the civil magistrate? God gives us the civil magistrate. And therefore, the civil magistrate is to view his task as God's agent, as a minister to provide order and safety to the citizens of any country. Now, it doesn't matter if the civil magistrate acknowledges God or not. This is who he is. He is defined by Scripture as God's agent. His task is to give honor to God. His task is to promote righteousness in his laws. The civil magistrate is called to label as good that which God calls good and to label as evil or sinful that which God calls sinful. And so restrain sin. He is to restrain that which would bring reproach to the nation. They are to promote the biblical view of justice and peace. They are accountable to God in this. When they come and stand before God, God will not ask them how popular their mandates were. God will not ask them how many people voted for them for a second term. He won't ask them any of those questions. When the civil magistrate stands before God, God will ask them, how did you promote righteousness in the nation? And they will answer to God for their failure or their successes in this realm. The civil magistrate, even in the most godless nation, will not be judged by the people that he governs, but he will be judged by the God who made him. And so to the civil magistrate, this verse commands promotion of righteous laws. To the Christian who is a civil magistrate, this verse says, you cannot support legislation that manifests sin and calls it good. You cannot do it. If you are a Christian civil magistrate, you cannot do it. It doesn't matter, beloved, it doesn't matter how much political capital it costs you. You cannot, as a Christian, do it. They will be judged by the supreme king of all the earth as to how well they promoted righteousness and how well they suppressed wickedness and sin. Now, I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying here. I'm not saying that the magistrate will be judged on how many conversions came out of his office. I'm not saying that the magistrate will be asked how many baptisms it performed, because that's not the realm of the civil magistrate. The civil magistrate is not responsible for those things. God has not called him to minister that way. That is the particular task of the church. That's what we are called to do. But he will be asked if he has promoted righteousness through the laws of the nation, the way in which he protected and freed the church to declare the gospel. These are all questions that the civil magistrate will answer before the one who gave him his task, and that is God Almighty. Then there is a corresponding responsibility of the citizen also. For the citizen, the calling is different. We are under authority as citizens. We're not over the civil magistrate. And so 1 Peter 2, 13 and 14 addresses this for us. It says, there be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him, to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. Now, there is a calling for the Christian that we would walk in obedience and submission to the civil magistrate. And that's true of you. It's true of Christians all over the world. It doesn't matter if you are in a republic, if you're in a democracy. It doesn't matter if you're living under a king or a queen or any other form of government. We are called as Christians to live under the magistrate that has been established. There are limits to that obedience, of course. We know that from Daniel chapter 3 in the account of Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego. Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego, kids, do you remember this account? Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were asked to bow down to a great big statue by the civil magistrate to whom we are told to be in subjection. But what did Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego say to the civil magistrate? He said, no. They said, I cannot do what you ask of me. Why? Because just as the civil magistrate is responsible to God first, so also the citizen is responsible to God first. We are called in those moments where the civil magistrate asks us to defy God to disobey them. We're simply honoring the first commandment when we do that. We shall have no other gods before the Lord. So, for the individual living in a nation, there is our obligation to live peacefully under righteous laws and to peacefully disobey sinful laws. The disciples lived under a government that persecuted and killed them. You remember Paul, in all his actions, calling us as God's people to live in subjection to the governing authorities. This is the same government that eventually would remove his head from his shoulders. And yet he called the Christian church to live at peace. In Titus chapter 3 and verse 1, he reminds the church to be submissive to rulers and to authorities. So we as God's people living in this nation are to be subject to the governing authorities as those instituted by God. But there is something else that we must and should do as God's people. We ought to pray for our governors. We ought to pray for the civil magistrate. Now, I've been around in the church long enough that I know what those prayers end up sounding like. Those prayers end up sounding like, God, please convert the governor. Please make him a Christian. And those prayers are not inappropriate, don't get me wrong. but we pray for the soul of the civil magistrate to be redeemed so that his walk would be righteous too. We ask that God would convert those in need of conversion, and we ask that God would give to all of them, whether they be Christian or pagan, a desire to establish righteous laws in our land and to suppress sin in our land. This is what 1 Timothy 2 and verse 2 tells us. That prayer is to be offered for kings. We are to pray for rulers. We pray for their wisdom. We pray for their strength. We pray for their safety. That they might promote righteous laws and restrain sin. Why? So that Proverbs 14.34 would be true of our land. That God would exalt the nation through its righteousness. and that he would bring reproach to a sinful nation if that would be appropriate. We pray that they would know, these governors, true righteousness, that they would be wise in executing the office given to them by God. Now, I want to give one final word before the election on Tuesday. The final hope of a Christian, beloved, is never ever in the exaltation of a political nation here on earth. Our hope is never in the greatness of the United States of America. Our hope is always in God Almighty. And so when we watch the results play out, whatever they will be, it's not one candidate against another. It's not confidence in one political party over and against another. Because what a magistrate can require in terms of external compliance never includes the salvation of a man's heart. The laws of a country will always multiply in fact. Now why do the laws in our nation need to multiply? It's because the sin of man's heart oozes out wherever it's found. and laws will need to be implemented to restrain sin, to call wickedness and to curb it and to call it to account. No, beloved, true righteousness is only accomplished on the cross. It is only accomplished through a right relationship with God. And that's where we started. We started by thinking about righteousness and sin, two words that relate us not to man, but that relate us to God Almighty. Christ is the only true King who brings righteousness to His people. So whatever happens on Tuesday, do not rejoice over much if your candidate is selected. And do not grieve over much if your candidate is not. Because our responsibility to the Lord remains unchanged. Beloved, here is the amazing truth of what will happen on Tuesday. It doesn't matter who wins. You are serving the same King. Nothing has changed in who you're serving. You are serving your Redeemer and you're serving your Creator. Our responsibility to the Lord remains unchanged. Your governor, my governor, is still the same. He hasn't changed at all. So the future of a nation, the future of our nation, it's not in the hands of elected officials, but it's in the hands of the Lord who is King over all the earth. So therefore, whether we are a magistrate or a citizen, our obligation is to live righteously before Him. Sin must be restrained, that the gospel may go forth, and that many in our land will be part of that final exaltation, that many in our land will join the kingdom of God, that many in our land would have the joy, the thrill at the second coming, when the nation of God, when His people will be exalted before the entire world. Let's pray together.